Wouldn’t it be amazing to have your entire home organized? What are your thoughts? Do you think it’s possible for you to organize your whole house?

Wouldn’t it be better if you had a magic wand and it was all done in an instant? Ahhh…

But, what if learning the tools, creating the new mindset, handling the obstacles along the way, developing the discipline AND strengthening your organizing muscles is exactly what needs to happen in your life to become the next version of yourself.

Going through the whole process is how you grow.

Become the next version of yourself.

The struggle, the belief, the overcoming…

I’m learning this in my own life with the course I have created. As I create a masterclass teaching some of these principles, I’m learning how to overcome obstacles. I’ve had many fails as I schedule my time, plan, not judge myself, manage my mind, BELIEVE it is possible even when my to-dos are now longer than when I started, and continue to take action even when I don’t feel like it.

Sometimes I want to quit.

Sometimes I am so disappointed that the timeline keeps getting extended.

I continue to direct my mind – to believe and even imagine the day that I will have it done and launch my masterclass and walk alongside the wonderful women who are waiting to learn how to better manage their homes with confidence.

Enjoy the process.

I’m enjoying as I learn the skills it takes to become a person who has a course and hosts a masterclass online and walks hundreds of women through a learning journey of creating a home they love.

I have to become a new person in this process.

You can do the same.

You will learn the skills it takes to become a person who has an organized home.

And, you can enjoy the process.

The steps to organize your whole house:

1) Make a list.

List all the areas of your home that need to be organized and the tasks for each area:

Organize kitchen

pantry

pans

Tupperware

utensils

under the sink

junk drawer

baking

refrigerator

etc.

List everything else you can think of that needs to get done to organize your home.

Give Jane back the ice cream maker

Sort the next sizes of kid’s clothes

Buy four photo boxes for each family member

Decide where to keep my paper

Clean out file cabinet

You may have a big, long list! That’s okay. The more detailed the better.

2) Put list items in chronological order.

You get to decide what you want to do first.

There is no right or wrong order.

Just put a 1 next to the first thing you will do (return ice cream maker) or area (kitchen) you want to organize. Put a 2 next to the second. A 3 on the third. etc.

3) Constrain your focus to the first thing on your list.

You will only think about the item you labeled 1 on the list for this step.

Let’s say you are going to focus on the kitchen first. If you haven’t already, go back and divide this into smaller tasks like in the example above, or even more specific like giving each cabinet and each drawer a number 1, 2, 3, 4, etc.

Go through these specific tasks and prioritize them.

Schedule each of these tasks on your calendar on a specific date at a specific time.

4) Do each task on your calendar as scheduled.

Practice keeping your scheduled commitments.

Think of the result (an organized drawer #2) and work to get it done in the time you’ve allotted on the date you scheduled.

Use this post or this one(which has free downloads for each step) to learn the organizing steps.

SORT: Start by emptying out the space. Sort things into categories as you empty each item.

PURGE: Go back through each category and purge.

ASSIGN HOMES: Decide where each thing will live.

CONTAIN: Do you need containers? Dividers? Bins?

MAINTAIN: Decide when and how you will maintain the space.

Don’t freak out.

As you start to organize, you might notice that more work or more mess is created. That’s okay. Don’t be discouraged.

For example, as you assign a category (utensils) to drawer number three in your kitchen, the hammer and flashlights and photos you cleared out now need to be put somewhere else. You decide to put all tools in the garage, photos in a tub in storage and flashlights in a small bin on a shelf in the cabinet. But…the garage is a mess! And, you don’t have a bin for photos or flashlights.

Get an empty box to temporarily put the tools in the garage. Label it so you know what it is. Add “buy a small bin for flashlights” and “buy a bin for photos” to your errands/to do list. Try using my ultimate planning worksheet.

Don’t be overwhelmed or freaked out. Everything is going as planned. You will organize the tools when you get to the garage and the photos when you get to photos. For now, you know exactly where tools and photos and flashlights go.

Stay constrained and JUST focus on the area you are working on – the kitchen.

5) Overcome obstacle thoughts.

This step is vital and no one else teaches this!

Yes, you will have obstacles – like buying a bin for photos – that are added to your list.

Yes, you may have an unexpected illness or trip that takes the time you thought you had available to organize.

You will also have obstacle THOUGHTS.

These thoughts have kept you from getting your home organized.

These thoughts might be:

I’m terrible at organizing.

I don’t know what to do.

I don’t have time.

There’s too much stuff.

I’ll never be able to finish this project.

I’m overly attached things.

I’m inept at making decisions.

Who cares. I’d rather do something else.

We must overcome these thoughts in order to become organized and create an organized environment.

Find your thought.

Realize it is just a thought, not a fact.

Strategize ways to overcome it.

Here’s an example:

Find the thought.“I don’t have time.”

Realize it is just a thought. It’s not true! You have plentyof time. This video I made will teach you a way to challenge your current thought.

Strategize ways to overcome it.

Get out your calendar. Look at it and find slots of time you could organize.

Plan out your steps and schedule them.

Practice redirecting your thoughts to “I have plenty of time.” Or another thought you want.

Set your timer when it is time to organize and be super focused, working fast.

That’s it! You can organize your whole house now…one step at a time.

Don’t stop until your done.

If you want help, I offer a FREE phone call where I walk you through my before and after process AND give you an opportunity to ask me any questions! Schedule your free call here.

One client wrote this about our FREE call…

I just wanted to say thanks for the free coaching session I had with you…some of the ways you challenged my thoughts were helpful…I DID take action and scheduled several 2-night getaways for myself at a nearby retreat center. Late last week I was able to get away (what a wonderful Mothers’ Day gift to myself)! Just knowing I have another retreat scheduled in the near future lifts my mood and encourages me that I can handle whatever the next few weeks may bring. For now, this is a step in the right direction that I desperately needed.

About Tracy

I'm so glad you're here! I specialize in helping women simplify and organize their lives. Combining all I know as a professional organizer and all my training as a certified life coach, I help you take it to the next level. Let's go!